Xbox One controller compatibility for Windows PC is nearing public release, according to a reply from Microsoft's Larry Hryb on a NeoGAF thread about the topic.

"Soon. Very soon," Hryb (AKA Mjr. Nelson) said, replying on a NeoGAF thread about when the necessary drivers would be made available via Windows.

Microsoft said back in August of 2013 that Windows support for Xbox One's peripheral would arrive sometime in 2014.

While Microsoft has already confirmed the gamepads will work plugged into a USB port, the company remained vague on if the Windows compatibility will include wireless support as well.

The Xbox 360's wired controller supported play on Windows PC out of the box, but wireless 360 controllers required a separate receiver that didn't arrive until nine months after the console's launch in late 2005.

This is good news for PC gamers and for Steam users who may want the console experience of a game, and the flexibility that the PC platform provides (frequent updates, modding, additional content, etc).

I almost never use a gamepad for games (mouse and keyboard are better for almost everything and certainly the games I play) but when I do I absolutely use a Logitech gamepad because the asymmetrical xbox layout drives me crazy. I have never understood how anyone can feel comfortable with that thing in their hands.

They better have improved on the 360's previous designs. The fact that it didn't have a setting for controlling dead zones was pretty weak, when you consider how inhumanely sensitive the thing was, and how easily the stick would wear out.